In the manufacture of many components, such as an automobile door, for example, a number of stations are provided with each station including the tooling and equipment for performing a single operation or multi-operations on the component. Upon completion of one operation, which may involve forming or joining of parts, the component is transferred to subsequent stations until all the steps to complete the component have been completed.
When mass production techniques and automation are employed, it is highly desirable to be able to monitor and record operations being performed to determine any malfunctions in the operation of the equipment or tooling being used. The recording of data relating to the operations makes it possible to pinpoint a malfunctioning, a misadjustment of one of the control elements or faulty operation to a particular piece of equipment and to take corrective measures in a relatively short time. A recording of the data relating to the operations may indicate a stop in the system overnight, for example.
Equipment and tooling are generally designed to operate within certain time limits. If the equipment or tooling operation takes too long or too short a time to perform its functions, it generally indicates that the equipment is not operating efficiently. While the overall quality of the component may not always be effected by slower operating equipment and tools, the overall time for manufacturing of the component may be greatly increased to thereby add considerably to the overall manufacturing cost. If the time involved is too short, it may indicate that the equipment is performing its function too fast and may mar or otherwise damage the components involved.